(For those who don't know, Black Friday refers to the last Friday in
November in the US, and it is the single busiest shopping day of the
year.  Traditionally, most retailers either make very poor profits, or
actually lose money, all year until that day.  That is, all year long
they're "in the red," until they begin turning a profit on this day,
when they're "in the black").

 

Yesterday's appellation of "Black Friday" was appropriate in more ways
than one, as several deaths occurred as a result of the holiday shopping
madness in the US.

 

The first was a worker at a Wal-Mart in New York.  As he opened the
doors at 5am, a crowd of 2,000 people stampeded into the store -
breaking down the doors and killing him in the process.  And he was a
temp worker, so he didn't even have any benefits!

 

In the same incident, several other people were taken to the hospital,
including a pregnant woman who (it has now been confirmed) suffered a
miscarriage as a result of the trauma.

 

Later in the day, two people shot each other outside of a Toys R Us in
California.  While management claims the dispute was unrelated to the
store, sales, or shopping in general, witnesses reported the two people
arguing inside the store earlier.

 

With all of this, it's no wonder the US gets a bum rap as a bunch of
nihilistic pricks.  Honestly, being in such a rush that you have to
literally step on someone else just to save $30 on a toaster?  Of course
the corporations do everything possible to feed the frenzy, running all
the advertising they are capable of, and getting people excited over
this particular weekend (and Friday in particular).

 

For myself, I've never actually gone shopping on Black Friday.  Most
years I had to work (imagine that), but the one year I did have it off I
went out at 10:30am and found most stores' shelves depleted.

 

One of my brothers was talking about going out to buy a TV - maybe I
should call and make sure he didn't get hurt in the process.

 

...Ben Chambers

www.pacificwebguy.com

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Chambers wrote:
> (For those who don't know, Black Friday refers to the last Friday in
> November in the US, and it is the single busiest shopping day of the
> year.  Traditionally, most retailers either make very poor profits, or
> actually lose money, all year until that day.  That is, all year long
> they're "in the red," until they begin turning a profit on this day,
> when they're "in the black").

Only one day each year when they make a profit?

That sounds pretty absurd to me. Why not just not bother opening any day 
except that one? That'd make 25x the profit that way! :-P

> Yesterday's appellation of "Black Friday" was appropriate in more ways
> than one, as several deaths occurred as a result of the holiday shopping
> madness in the US.
> 
> The first was a worker at a Wal-Mart in New York.  As he opened the
> doors at 5am, a crowd of 2,000 people stampeded into the store -
> breaking down the doors and killing him in the process.  And he was a
> temp worker, so he didn't even have any benefits!
> 
> In the same incident, several other people were taken to the hospital,
> including a pregnant woman who (it has now been confirmed) suffered a
> miscarriage as a result of the trauma.

...da HELL?! o_O

People stampeded over SHOPPING??!

That surely has to be the WTF of the entire month!

(Having said that, people round here do seem to become slightly crazy 
whenever a new Ikea opens. I have no idea why. Still, there are no 
stabbings or crushed bodies. Just lots of people camping outside all 
night so they get to be first in the queue to go on. With is borderline 
insanity as it is...)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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"Chambers" <ben### [at] pacificwebguycom> wrote:
> (For those who don't know, Black Friday refers to the last Friday in
> November in the US, and it is the single busiest shopping day of the
> year.  Traditionally, most retailers either make very poor profits, or
> actually lose money, all year until that day.  That is, all year long
> they're "in the red," until they begin turning a profit on this day,
> when they're "in the black").

Thanks for the interesting explanation.

> Yesterday's appellation of "Black Friday" was appropriate in more ways
> than one, as several deaths occurred as a result of the holiday shopping
> madness in the US.

I saw on TV and was astounded.  It's really a stampede, people begin behaving
like raging bulls!

So far I only knew of it through two movies: an old Jerry Lewis one and one
starring Schwarzenegger.  I thought it was typical Hollywood exhageration...

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Orchid XP v8 [mailto:voi### [at] devnull]
> Only one day each year when they make a profit?

No, it's the FIRST day that they make a profit.  Now through Christmas
is the busiest time of the year for retail, and they make most of their
profits during this season (note that many stores actually do make a
profit during the rest of the year, but it's nothing compared to the
holidays).

> ...da HELL?! o_O
> 
> People stampeded over SHOPPING??!

You should look up some of the videos from product launches for video
game consoles.  Keep in mind that those are from a single product
targeting a single consumer group.

Now, imagine if every consumer group had a sale that crazy, all on the
same day...

...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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Chambers wrote:
> Now, imagine if every consumer group had a sale that crazy, all on the
> same day...

Items on sale at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart included a Samsung 50-inch 
Plasma HDTV for $798, a Bissel Compact Upright Vacuum for $28, a Samsung 
10.2 megapixel digital camera for $69 and DVDs such as "The Incredible Hulk" 
for $9.

Not that that excuses anything, but it *was* a pretty serious sale.  I'm not 
surprised there were so many people there, but i'm rather surprised at their 
callousness.

They had a similar problem in (I think) the 70s (or early 80s?) at a Who 
concert, where a dozen people or so got crushed against the doors while 
waiting to get in, after which the city instituted rules against open 
seating at concerts or some such. (You could probably find the details with 
enough googling, but more recent events are overshadowing the obvious terms. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The NFL should go international. I'd pay to
   see the Detroit Lions vs the Roman Catholics.

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Darren New wrote:
> They had a similar problem in (I think) the 70s (or early 80s?) at a Who
> concert, where a dozen people or so got crushed against the doors while
> waiting to get in, after which the city instituted rules against open
> seating at concerts or some such. (You could probably find the details
> with enough googling, but more recent events are overshadowing the obvious
> terms. :-)

We had a similar one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superclásico#Puerta_12_Tragedy

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
> We had a similar one
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superclásico#Puerta_12_Tragedy

"""
71 fans were killed in crush at gate 12. [...] Since the tragedy the gate
s 
at El Monumental have been identified by letters instead of numbers.
"""

That sounds more like something Americans would do. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   The NFL should go international. I'd pay to
   see the Detroit Lions vs the Roman Catholics.

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"Chambers" <ben### [at] pacificwebguycom> wrote in message
news:78D2A215AB4C409B810B7FECCE51E51F@HomePC...

> (For those who don't know, Black Friday refers to the last Friday in
> November in the US, and it is the single busiest shopping day of the
> year.  Traditionally, most retailers either make very poor profits, or
> actually lose money, all year until that day.  That is, all year long
> they're "in the red," until they begin turning a profit on this day,
> when they're "in the black").

With all due respect, that's nonsense. No retailer operates with one month
net profits and 11 months of losses (none that stays in business for more
than a year anyway). It's a myth. The deep discounts offered on Black Friday
(which still turn in handsome profits) should give you an idea of the profit
margins at other days of the year. The "explanation" about the profits was
concocted sometime after the introduction of the term, by retailers who
understandably wanted counter the original negative connotations of the
term.

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: somebody [mailto:x### [at] ycom]
> With all due respect, that's nonsense. No retailer operates with one
> month
> net profits and 11 months of losses (none that stays in business for
> more
> than a year anyway). It's a myth.

With all due respect, I'm well aware of the realities of business.  I
was offering that paragraph as an explanation for my non-US friends who
might not know what "Black Friday" is.

Did you even read the rest of my post?  If I'm pissed off and depressed
about rampant consumerism leading to the *deaths* of innocent people, do
you think I effing care about details like what kind of profit margin
retailers normally take in?

...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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nemesis wrote:

> So far I only knew of it through two movies: an old Jerry Lewis one and one
> starring Schwarzenegger.  I thought it was typical Hollywood exhageration...

Likewise...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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